Bringing up MySQL on Linux Using Binaries

I need to bring up the MySQL server on Linux. Unfortunately, RPM is not available for the type of Linux I have, only the binaries. I have installed the binaries according to the instructions. The installation apparently was fine. When I start the server -- issue the "safe_mysqld --user=mysql &" command, the server comes up and then immediately drops. In the log file, I find the message "Can't open Privilege tables, can't find file ./mysql/[login to view URL]" The file does exist. I have checked [login to view URL] to make sure it points to /var/lib as the data directory. The project is to bring the MySQL datbase server up properly on my Linux system. ## Deliverables 1) Complete and fully-functional MySQL server on Linux system. ## Platform Linux